20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks
Nine Inch Nails' eighth studio album does not begin with a bang. Nor does it lead with a hit or lead single. Words, lyrics, and/or dialogue are non-existent. When the curtains part and the needle drops on Hesitation Marks, what you get at the top is, instead, the sonic equivalent of a blank stare with a pencil tap; the sound of a heart being still; or a pondering thought. As if we've caught Trent Reznor at the starting point of the creation process for his first album in five years under the NIN banner. As if to say, "Alright, Hesitation Marks, let's do this." And what does this entail? What exactly does a Nine Inch Nails sound like in the year 2013? A band fronted by a man who, as is acknowledged here, has lead a life well fed where everything's been tried, visited and experienced?...
The answer?
Harder, better, faster, STRONGER. Back, kids, oh yes. And he came back haunted. Hesitation Marks is not a comeback album, and Hesitation Marks is not a return to form. Hesitation Marks is Nine Inch Nails as they were, as they are, and as they forever will be: solid, compact, and in total control of their sound. Hesitation Marks grooves without cheese, slinking about space and time while still making its presence known. It's Nine Inch Nails just as you want them in 2013: harder, better, faster, stronger.
KEY TRACKS: Copy of A/Everything/Running
21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob
22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin
23/Rhye/Woman
24/Lorde/Pure Heroine
25/Savages/Silence Yourself
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